The Moto Z might not have transformed the smartphone world yet, but Motorola’s been doing a solid job generating some interest around its modular smartphone by opening the system up to all interested parties. The company’s hackathons have been a big part of the puzzle, with events in New York, San Francisco and Buenos Aires (with another hitting China next month).
In December, the company showed off a trio of winners, including a gamepad, beauty device and audio converter. This latest batch from SF and Buenos Aires take a largely more medical bent, with winners including Simple Syrup, a blood glucose reader for diabetics and Baby Care, which offers temperature and other alerts for sleeping babies.
Also on the list is Moto Color, which emits sounds or vibrations when reading colors for the visually impaired and the unfortunately named ModCoholic, which detects blood alcohol content and tries to get the user to take a taxi. The simply named Solar-Powered Battery Charger is likely the most commercially viable (if slowest) of the bunch, giving phones a full charge after 10 hours of exposure to the sun.
Motorola has also launched a partnership with Indiegogo designed to further facilitate the development of third-party mods.